After losing 8/11 duels against Luton, Liverpool could look to bin defender in today’s Carabao Cup final.

Possibly the most important match of Liverpool’s season to far is today. The first domestic cup final of the season will pit the Reds against Chelsea.

Any English team’s first opportunity to win a trophy comes in the Carabao Cup final, where Liverpool is the clear favourite.

This is probably due to the fact that the Reds are currently leading the Premier League, while the Blues are currently in mid-table.

Furthermore, Jurgen Klopp’s team has defeated the west London club eight times in the last nine meetings, with their most recent defeat occurring in 2021.

The playing field has, however, partially levelled due to Liverpool’s season-long injury woes, and Chelsea may be able to take advantage of the Merseysiders’ absence of several important players.

Klopp will therefore need to aim to field his best team in the championship game in an effort to win.

This is the reason Joe Gomez could have to be benched in favour of a colleague.

Joe Gomez’s season thus far in numbers

Klopp’s team has experienced a bit of an injury crisis this year, missing a lot of starters from the great majority of their games.

Even at one point, Liverpool lacked a natural senior left-back in their lineup due to the unavailability of both Kostas Tsimikas and Andy Robertson.

Gomez entered the picture at this point. This season, the defender has been the Anfield team’s Mr. Versatile, appearing in all four back positions.

The £85k-per-week defender has been impressive this season, becoming one of Klopp’s most reliable players with 34 games played and two assists. However, in the recent game against Luton, he didn’t meet his usual standards, losing 8 out of 11 duels and being dribbled past four times, highlighting a drop in performance compared to previous matches.

The 20-year-old was only dribbled past once and won 7/10 of the duels he tried. Therefore, Liverpool may need to bench Gomez in order to give themselves the best opportunity of winning the Carabao Cup.

Who Klopp should start ahead of Gomez

Despite missing a significant amount of the season due to injury, Robertson might be the best option to take the defender’s place.

Gomez has shown consistency this season, but if his form is declining, it might be best for him to be benched for the final. Historically, he has been less involved in Klopp’s system, with Trent Alexander-Arnold being the main contributor in terms of assists among defenders in the Premier League.

On September 16, following Robertson’s first Premier League goal of the year against Wolves, Klopp stated the following.

It was wonderful for Andy, considering he hasn’t scored many goals. Through the years, he has been incredibly reliable. A good man, a wonderful bloke. And not always, but frequently, a left-back of the highest calibre.

“It was an extraordinary goal. That would never have happened in the first half, Robbo coming in with that kind of goal. Everyone was still in for a surprise.”

This demonstrates not only how highly the German regards Robertson, but also how dependable he has been for the Reds ever since he joined.